AGE: 1 in 6 will be over 65 by 2050

The health website medicalnewstoday.com reports the not altogether surprising fact that the world’s older population is growing dramatically.

Almost one in ten of the world’s inhabitants (617 million) are aged 65 and over and according to a new American report, “An Aging World: 2015,” this percentage is expected to increase to more than one in six by the year 2050.

Population aging is evident in every country in every part of the world, but many countries in Europe and Asia are further along in the process, or moving more rapidly, than they are in the United States. Even so, America’s 65-and-over population is expected to increase from its current 48 million to 88 million by the year 2050.

Global life expectancy is expected to increase from 68.6 years in 2015 to 76.2 years in 2050, whilst the global population of people aged 80 and over is expected to more than triple between 2015 and 2050, growing from 126.5 million to 446.6 million.